Christmas - It's All About Jesus

'How did God choose to enter the story He was writing? God overcame the world and its evil forces by setting aside His omnipotence, and becoming a helpless baby. The Incarnate One now had pitiful limbs, had tiny arms and legs, but even they were bound up tight in the swaddling clothes that Mary had remembered to bring with her.

'God was taking on what Martin Luther once called "left-handed power," the authority that arises naturally from a certain kind of willed helplessness. We are not talking about the helplessness that is simply impotence fueled by cowardice. Rather, we are recognizing how to overcome evil with good, how a strong man turns the other cheek, how the One who could have called for legions of angels to rescue Him from the cross declined to do so. The One who humbled Himself to the point of death was given a name above every name.'

'St. John tells us that God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son. That giving began at Bethlehem, was continued in His perfect sinless life as the new Israel, and culminated at the cross where He died for our sins.

'He entered into His joy (and our justification) at His resurrection, and He now sits at the right hand of God the Father, where there is a torrent of pleasure forever.

'He is that cascading torrent of pleasure. He is that endless waterfall of joy, which is hard for us to visualize because there is no top, and no bottom, and no sides. But there is an endless motion of delight just the same, and because we are in Christ, we are right in the middle of it.' - This passage excerpted from God Rest Ye Merry, by Douglas Wilson

'All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel" 

which means, God with us.'

- Matthew 1:22-23

As the angels said to the shepherds:

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” - Luke 2:10-12 

'And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'

Luke 2:13-14 

'In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.'  - Galatians 4:3-6

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Years ago, my cousin Bobby gave us the first several pieces of this Fontanini Nativity set, to which we've added pieces year after year. It is my favorite Christmas 'decoration,' a reminder of what Christmas is all about.

So whether we say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays (Holy day), we are proclaiming this to be the event that changed the world - the birth of Christ our Savior.

This post may be linked to one or more of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Adorned From Above and   Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and  Freedom Fridays and From the Farm and   Anything Blue Friday and  Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Share Your Creativity and   A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special